Live art describes the work of artists who undertake elements of performance and live acts. SEANNA VAN HELTEN talks to artist ALICIA JONES and ZANE TROW, curator of the inaugural Brisbane festival, EXIST IN 08 INTERNATIONAL LIVE ART EVENT.

Inspired by the international movement of live art and the artist-run festivals gaining ground in Australian cities, Exist In 08 is Brisbane’s inaugural festival dedicated to live art. In live art, “the artist’s body is their material,” says Zane Trow, the festival’s co-curator (alongside Rebecca Cunningham). Live art, he explains, “puts the live performance at the centre of the work. But [live art] also can include everything from exhibitions to process work to community projects to the individual performance … it’s a way of catching a lot of individual art practices in the early twenty-first century.”

Trow believes the timing is right for Brisbane to host a festival of this size and scope, and hopes Exist In 08 will act as a platform for future collaborations between visiting and Australian artists.  “There are a range of live artists in Brisbane who’ve been working in Queensland and overseas in the last four or five years, and there’s an emerging audience for this work in Queensland. So Rebecca and I thought, ‘Well the time is probably right to put on something bigger,’” explains Trow. “Here’s a way to platform the work that’s going on in Brisbane and to invite international artists here.

“A lot of this work is artist-driven,” Trow continues. “A lot of the international artists we’ve invited run their own festivals … or create their own performance spaces in different parts of the world. So there’s that exchange of practice, exchange of audiences, and that exchange of ideas about what performance might be,” he hopes.

So, what exactly does performance mean to the twenty-first century artist? For Brisbane-based artist Alicia Jones, live art means anything can happen – an aspect of her practice which she relishes. “All of the work that I do is unscripted ... the interaction with who’s watching could possibly shift the whole performance,” Jones says.  “I learn something, you learn something!”

Trow agrees that the intimacy established between live artists and their audiences is something unique to the practice. “[Historically] performance art was a way of defining a difference from theatre, visual arts, and so on. In Australia we’ve used terms like hybrid, contemporary performance. But live art seems to be away of reflecting the artist’s desire to have the performance moment … and to set up more intimate relationships with the audience.”

The themes of identity, culture, sexuality, politics, place and space also complement the performative and bodily aspects of live art. Jones’ work centres on her investigation into her Tasmanian Aboriginal ancestry.  Her live work-in-progress, titled In Memory Of A Tree, has been evolving over a three-year period and its form shifts according to the impacts of her research. She asks of herself, and her audience, what informs the people we are? “I’m trying to find out how being a white Western woman … informs who I am compared to what I’m missing from my Aboriginal heritage and how that influences who I am.”

Jones’ background is in theatre performance, and she highlights what she sees as the essential difference between acting a part and creating live art: whereas in theatre the emphasis is on plot and the body of the actor transforms into a character, in live art the performer’s body remains unchanged. “That’s been hard for me, because I am used to playing a character. I struggled with the idea of ‘Am I putting someone on?’…and then I realised I am just exploring facets of myself.”

EXIST IN 08 INTERNATIONAL LIVE ART EVENT takes place over six days from October 22 – 26 in Brisbane (Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts and Metro Arts) and November 1 in Toowoomba (USQ Artsworx). For program details visit www.existin08.com

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